CHEMICAL ASPECTS OP LIFE HOPKINS 147 



not already, in the thought and interests of men at large, as well 

 as in technical and industrial development, overshadowed in our 

 educational and public policy those of biology to an extent which 

 threatens a one-sided development of science itself and of the civi- 

 lization which we hope to see based on science." Sir Walter Flet- 

 cher, whose death during the past year has deprived the nation of an 

 enlightened adviser, almost startled the public, I think, when he said 

 in a national broadcast that " we can find safety and progress only 

 in proportion as we bring into our methods of statecraft the guid- 

 ance of biological truth." That statecraft, in its dignity, should 

 be concerned with biological teaching, was a new idea to many lis- 

 teners. A few years ago the Cambridge philosopher. Dr. C. D. 

 Broad, who is much better acquainted with scientific data than are 

 many philosophers, remarked upon the misfortune involved in the 

 unequal development of science; the high degree of our control 

 over inorganic nature combined with relative ignorance of biology 

 and psychology. At the close of a discussion as to the possibility 

 of continued mental progress in the world, he summed up by saying 

 that the possibility depends on our getting an adequate knowledge 

 and control of life and mind before the combination of ignorance 

 on these subjects with knowledge of physics and chemistry wrecks 

 the whole social system. He closed with the somewhat startling 

 words : " Which of the runners in this very interesting race will 

 win it is impossible to foretell. But physics and death have a 

 long start over psychology and life !" No one surely will wish for, 

 or expect, a slowing in the pace of the first, but the quickening up 

 in the latter which the last few decades have seen is a matter for high 

 satisfaction. But, to repeat, the need for recognizing biological 

 truth as a necessary guide to individual conduct and no less to state- 

 craft and social policy still needs emphasis today. With frank 

 acceptance of the truth that his own nature is congruent with all 

 those aspects of nature at large which biology studies, combined with 

 intelligent understanding of its teaching, man would escape from 

 innumerable inhibitions due to past history and present ignorance, 

 and equip himself for higher levels of endeavor and success. 



Inadequate as at first sight it may seem when standing alone in 

 support of so large a thesis, I must here be content to refer briefly to 

 a single example of biological studies bearing upon human wel- 

 fare. I will choose one which stands near to the general theme 

 of my address. I mean the current studies of human and animal 

 nutrition. You are well aware that during the last 20 years — that 

 is, since it adopted the method of controlled experiment — the study 

 of nutrition has shown that the needs of the body are much more 

 complex than was earlier thought, and in particular that substances 



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